A summer cardigan

Well, I know that some of you are living in warmer climates and find the summer heat oppressive but this is rarely something that happens in Edinburgh so that's why I need summer cardigans. And I'm fed up of the limited RTW versions on offer and hit and miss colours. So I thought I'd make my own.

I know a lot of bloggers have said there aren't many sewing patterns for cardigans, or jackets as they can confusingly be called which makes finding them even more difficult! So, I came across BurdaStyle's Karen cardigan and at £2.99 for a PDF I just went for it.

The fabric is a teal coloured ponte knit with a majority of viscose and a touch of lycra, there is, I think a little bit of polyester in it but it's the best I could find. I didn't add the tie belt to my version. The sleeves are also quite wide at the wrist so I slimmed those down quite a lot. I made this cardigan at least a month ago so I've forgotten a lot of the details on how I sewed it but I remember it was quite easy and I didn't have any problem with the pattern pieces. The instructions were fine but as usual I read them through and then did my own thing. The really important things to do is to follow the layout diagram for cutting out as it's cut out from a single layer of fabric. The front and collar are combined in one pattern piece. When you cut the sleeves out, you cut them one at a time and because there's a definite back and front to the sleeve piece, you need to flip the pattern piece over to cut the second sleeve. It's the same with the front piece.

I like the short fold over collar at the back neck but I'm really not sure how I feel about the hemmed edge as you can see the seam allowance, I've made the photo extra large so you can see it. I also feel that if I make this again, I'll try and have the back neck collar seam on the underside of the collar. I don't know if this is just a bad instruction from Burda, I've double checked their instructions and I've done it as they told me.

There's a nice seam detail on the shoulder that curves towards the neck. I like this bit! You can see I've done a turn over and sew hem all round the neck and front and continuing around the cardigan hem. I made this using my sewing machine as I hadn't yet bought my overlocker. Any future versions I make will be on the overlocker.

I love the colour but as I said I'm not sure about this cardigan. I don't know if I love it or hate it. I haven't work it since I finished it over a month ago and it's been sitting on the sofa since then waiting to be blogged and then waiting to be worn. I guess time will tell! What do you think about it?